The repository of one hard-boiled egg from the south suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin (and the occassional guest-blogger). The ramblings within may or may not offend, shock and awe you, but they are what I (or my guest-bloggers) think.

September 12, 2009

The Coast Guard ran a training exercise today. It was routine in every way except that President Obama was involved in a 9/11 memorial in the same general area as the exercise. Oh, and nobody told CNN that it was a training exercise.

Based on what they had heard on scanners that overheard the Coast Guard communications, CNN began reporting that the Coast Guard was pursuing a boat on the Potomac and that shots had been fired. Needless to say, the reporting caused a bit of a stir.

Commenting on the incident, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs chided CNN:

“My only caution would be that before we report things like this, checking would be good,” Gibbs said.

Sage advice from Mr. Gibbs, to be certain. I wonder when Mr. Gibbs would have liked CNN to have begun “checking” before “reporting?”

Should CNN have done some “checking” before they “reported” that John McCain’s endorsement by John Haggee was the equivalent of Barack Obama sitting in Jeremiah Wright’s church and listening to his sermons for 20 years?

Should CNN have done some “checking” before they “reported” this puff piece on the self proclaimed communist, Van Jones?

Or, perhaps, just maybe, CNN should have done some “checking” before they “reported” that following President Obama’s most recent infomercial for health reform, 67% liked Obamacare based on significantly oversampling democrats?

It’s not very often I agree with Robert Gibbs. In fact, I’m not sure I ever have before. On this issue, I wholeheartedly agree with Mr. Gibbs. I would like to see CNN doing some real checking and some real reporting. I suspect though, that if they did that, Mr. Gibbs would not be happy at having lost a compliant media lapdog. That leaves a quandary for Mr. Gibbs; which way do you want it?

June 18, 2009

“ABCNEWS prides itself on covering all sides of important issues and asking direct questions of all newsmakers — of all political persuasions — even when others have taken a more partisan approach and even in the face of criticism from extremes on both ends of the political spectrum. ABCNEWS is looking for the most thoughtful and diverse voices on this issue.”

Ah, yup!

ABC Employees Contributed Overwhelmingly to Obama

By CPR Staff on June 18, 2009 10:41 AM

Interesting to Note…

An analysis of contributions to the Obama and McCain campaign shows that ABC employees contributed more than $160,000 to the Obama campaign versus less than $5,000 to the McCain campaign.

The average rainfall in the 28 hours between the start of the rain and the start of the partially-treated sewage dump – 1.93 inches, with a high of 2.64 inches on Granville just north of Bradley (Milwaukee’s far northwest side)

The average rainfall in the 31 hours between the start of the rain and the start of the combined-raw dump – 2.45 inches, with a high of 3.36 inches on Granville just north of Bradley, 2.11 inches at 3rd and Lincoln (the southern part of the combined sewer area), 2.46 inches at 25th and Canal (the middle of the combined sewer area), 1.92 inches at Bartlett and Belleview (Upper East Side, also in the combined sewer area), and 2.31 inches at 36th and Fond du Lac (the northwest part of the combined sewer area)

The average rainfall in the 46 hours between the start of the rain and 5 am this morning – 2.95 inches, with a high of 3.90 inches on Granville just north of Bradley

As of 7:20 am, the main Deep Tunnel was holding 369 million of its 405 million-gallon capacity, and it is slowly being pumped out, while the Northwest Side annex was holding 88 million of its 89 million-gallon capacity. Both sewage plants are running at over 100% capacity.

Exit question – Is that a “hundred-year” rain that MMSD and their echo chamber at The Milwaukee Journal (I don’t remember whether the Sentinel also bought in) said would be required to defeat the somewhat-almost-not-quite-deep-enough Deep Tunnel?

March 10, 2008

Tucker was always a bit of an enigma to me. I found myself agreeing with him on more issues than not. He equally attacked government stupidity whether he found it on the left or the right. Carlson generally struck me as the only thinking person on the network.

In a move that solidifies MSNBC’s position as lead leftest bugle, they’ve put David Gregory in to replace Carlson. Gregory’s approach to anything non left makes Helen Thomas look alert and curious.

August 24, 2007

With Charlie taking the day off to celebrate the release of 50 Rules Kids Won’t Learn in School, and a bunch of crap floating around (both figuratively and literally), I just couldn’t let another week go by without some noting of it. I have a voice for blogging, so you won’t have the multimedia presentation that the Blogfather usually does every Friday right after the 11:35 traffic, but let’s roll with it anyway. It’s time for the weekly Deep Tunnel Awards, handed out every week Charlie’s on the air Friday plus this week to the person, politician or institution who, like MMSD’s somewhat-almost-not-quite-deep-enough tunnel, was the most full of it.

Third runner-up this week – The Chicago Tribune and various pantywaist envirowhackos, who are about to derail an expansion of BP’s refinery in northern Indiana over a miniscule increase in the amount of crap they would be allowed to dump into Lake Michigan, up to 5,000 pounds per day from 3,500 pounds per day. BP has now promised to not increase their dumpings, even if it means they won’t expand production. Because that BP facility is one of only two that produces our very special blend of Algore/Whitman Memorial RFG, I hope the envirowhackos choke on $5/gallon gas (after I move out of here, that is) while braying the $2/gallon increase for a lake that is 0.000014% cleaner is worth it. Oh, and remember that number; I’ll get back to it.

Second runner-up this week – Michael Vick, who is set to plead guilty to a charge stemming from dogfights he and others participated in. May you try to escape and get an up-close-and-personal visit from a police German Shepherd.

First runner-up this week, in second place – The idiot who rammed Milwaukee County Deputy Kevin Johnson’s squad car as Johnson was cleaning up an accident scene on US-45. Kevin’s younger brother, Tim, was nearly killed doing the same thing back in January. Thankfully, Kevin was still in his squad car and escaped injury. Message to motorists – if you see flashing lights, don’t aim for them.

But the winner this week – Chicago’s Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, which, instead of sending its 243,000 pounds of crap daily down to the Mississippi like it usually does, is sending something north of that into Lake Michigan. Meanwhile, MMSD claims it can dump an average of 11,000 pounds of crap a day. And yet the envirowhackos continue to ignore that and bitch about an additional 1,500 pounds in exchange for something that’s absolutely needed, and about someone who takes a whiz over the side of a fishing boat.

August 20, 2007

…(but mostly under 4), it’s time for MMSD to spew crap out into the lake. A combined sewer dump from the just-over-half-full Deep Tunnel been going on since 5:13 am this morning. All three major rivers have been contaminated (again) through most of their run inside the city. There’s two dumpings directly into Lake Michigan at S. Lincoln Memorial and E. Bay, and at S. Lincoln Memorial and E. Russell (I do not know whether this is part of the Deep Tunnel dump).

Tell me again why we had to build the not-Deep-enough Tunnel instead of separating downtown Milwaukee’s sewers. Tell me again why we should put everything not handled directly by a municipality at the whim of an MMSD-style board dominated by the city of Milwaukee.

September 21, 2006

Lost in the revelation that Jim “Craps” Doyle (WEAC/Potawatomi-For Sale) had his campaign lawyer instruct the State Doylie Elections Board on how to kneecap Mark Green via e-mail (and thus traceable), and the chutzpah of the Doylies to once again seek to retroactively change the rules to grab even more of Green’s money, is this little gem from the Journal Sentinel – MMSD proposes 30% budget increase. They’re looking at a 3% levy increase, and are proposing tapping $500,000 out of the $13.5 million user stabilization fund (no word on how much they’re sticking the non-Milwaukee County suburbs for in fees). Let’s take a look at the tax time bomb that is MMSD, the Crappy Water People™:

Total proposed budget for 2007 – $352.9 million (up 30.5% from 2006)

Capital improvements – $285.4 million (up 37.9% from 2006, even though the non-Milwaukee County portion of paying for that that is decreasing $1.4 million to $22.6 million – Houston, we have a consistency problem here)

“Low”-interest state loans in 2007 – $108.7 million (or 30.8% of the total budget)

Bonds and “expected” federal/state aid – $67.8 million (19.2% of the total budget; not broken down in the story)

Despite being ordered to sink another $900 million (in addition to the billions spent on the almost-somewhat-not-quite-Deep-enough Tunnel, designed to make the suburbs pay for Milwaukee’s and Shorewood’s unwillingness to separate their combined sewers, the top cause of sewage dumping) on dumping mitigation, MMSD still faces lawsuits from both the state (which negotiated that $900 million settlement) and envirowhackos to spend even more.

When half of what you spend (math lesson of the day – 30.8 + 19.2 = 50.0) is borrowed or gifted from an uncertain source of aid, it’s no surprise when the acting comptroller warns that the butcher’s bill will come due in 2008. Gee, I wonder why the board is sort of holding the line this year; could it be because fellow ‘RAT Craps doesn’t need yet another massive increase in property taxes from MMSD (4.0% increase last year) and its kind like what happened last year?

While Jessica reminds you the not-so-gentle reader (you may be gentle if you read her blog, but you’re definitely not gentle if you’re here) that the Legislature killed a bill to make these non-elected taxing authorities elected instead of appointed, I’ll remind you once again that Craps specifically exempted non-elected taxing authorities from his Craps Anti-Freeze. They’re setting up for the mother of all sublimations next year.

August 10, 2006

This is the Emergency Blogging System. This alert is almost over; steveegg should be back to give you live crap in 2 days.

Don’t try drinking straight from the lake at home. By the time this hits the wires, steveegg will have drunk several gallons of unfiltered-yet-clean water straight from the lakes of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (as well as a bunch of hard liquor; he is on vacation after all) with no ill effect. The secret is to find a non-shallow part of the lake well away from shore, currents, and bugs (oh, and not having motors or people dump crap into the lake helps a lot too).

March 30, 2006

Yesterday, MMSD, The Crappy Water People™, dumped 800,000 gallons of partially-treated sewage into the lake from the Jones Island treatment plant. According to MMSD, the partially-treated sewage, which had the solids removed and was disinfected, flowed while gates were tested for an underground channel at the plant between 10:19 am and 10:53 am. A couple of questions:

How did it take over a half-hour to figure out there was a problem?

Will the DNR finally start taking action that matches what they do to fishermen who “pump personal bilges”?

March 17, 2006

The Journal Sentinel reports that MMSD, The Crappy Water People™, dumped an estimated 3.27 million gallons of sewage as a result of Monday’s March rain. The breakdown is as follows:

2.7 million gallons of raw sewage from the combined sewer system, one of 6 such dumpings allowed by the DNR.

570,000 gallons of really-raw sewage from a separate waste-only sewer in St. Francis. This dumping, illegal under both the state permit to MMSD and federal law, was, according to the MMSD the result of a bottleneck from leaky sewers in St. Francis and Cudahy. They hope that a relief sewer scheduled to be constructed starting this fall will eliminate that.

Just remember, that 2.7 million “allowed” gallons is 2.7 million gallons more than you or I am allowed to dump overboard if we’re out fishing and a sudden call to nature happens.

March 13, 2006

…MMSD, The Crappy Water People™, must be dumping. According to their storm update page, they started dumping the combined sewers at 3:30 am, burning up the first of the 6 of those they’re allowed. These dumpings affect all 3 of Milwaukee’s rivers (Milwaukee just after it enters the city on the west bank, Menomonee just after it enters the city, and Kinnickinnkick at I-43/94), as well as the Lake at the Jones Island plant. Worse, there was a separate sewer dump into the lake in St. Francis. Supposedly there have been no diversions.

The stats as of 1:20 pm:
– Deep Tunnel is storing 326 million gallons out of a capacity of 400 million gallons
– Jones Island is treating 277 million gallons out of a capacity of 300 million gallons
– South Shore is over capacity, “treating” 305 million gallons out of a capacity of 300 million gallons

I bet I can guess who’s going to get one of Charlie’s Deep Tunnel Awards Friday :-)

March 8, 2006

MMSD, The Crappy Water People™, now has a page to let you track their dumpings. Let’s see how many millions of gallons are dumped the next few days, as we have plenty of rain incoming over the course of the next few days.

February 5, 2006

– From Fox News, adherents of Islam, the Religion of “Peace”, stormed and torched the Danish Embassy in Syria as part of ongoing protests over a cartoon. Grow up, Muslims; the presstitutes have been doing that sort of schtick to us Christians for decades.

– The Journal Sentinel crows about how Wisconsin is the King of the Throne – yes, that throne (so if you have just eaten or are about to eat, please skip to the next segment). It seems that between Kohler-#1 in toilets, Bemis Manufacturing-#1 in toilet seats, the thickest concentraion of toilet paper manufacturers around in the Fox Valley, and SC Johnson’s Glade-#1 air freshener, we’re the king of all that is crappy. So next time you see #2 floating in Lake Michigan, take pride that not only did a Wisconsinite (probably) squeeze that particular piece out, and not only that MMSD-The Crappy Water People decided to once again showcase Wisconsin’s competence by displaying their incompetence, but that Wisconsinites had a hand in almost every other step of that process as well. Don’t say I didn’t warn you

– In the “blind squirrel finds nut” category, Eugene Kane gets something right. History is history, so it’s time to stop patronizing blacks by setting aside the shortest month of the year as “Black” History Month. Teach those milestones on the anniversaries of the dates they happened (and find a suitable time for those that happened during the summer).

– The Minister of Defense, Reggie White, is headed to the Football Hall of Fame. Despite his passing away last year, fellow inductees Troy Aikman and Warren Moon will be looking over their shoulders hearing the footsteps and their blockers flying through the air, and I’ll be hearing Reggie’s gravel voice.